Managing the spacing intervals between aircraft in traffic flows (e.g., interval management) can allow for a greater number of aircraft in the traffic flows and can provide increased delivery accuracy for aircraft arrivals. Interval management (IM) involves air traffic control (ATC) inducting an aircraft into an arrival queue and assigning a spacing goal for the aircraft through an IM clearance message. The flight crew (e.g., pilot) checks for the feasibility of meeting the assigned spacing goal in the IM clearance message, communicates to the ATC an acceptance or rejection of the assigned spacing goal, and if accepted enters the clearance information from the IM clearance message into a computer which provides speed guidance commands to execute IM operations.
As the complexity of the IM clearance messages increases, responding to the IM clearance messages may become more difficult for a flight crew. The flight crew should process the entire IM operation correctly before accepting or declining the IM clearance message. Complex IM clearance messages may take more time to correctly process.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system for assisting a flight crew in evaluating moderate to higher complexity IM clearances correctly. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the background of the invention.